LITERARY STUDIES

The Analysis of William Wordworth's "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud" (1807)

I wandered lonely as a cloud

That floats on high o'er vales and hills,

When all at once I saw a crowd,

A host, of golden daffodils;

Beside the lake, beneath the trees,

Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

 

Continuous as the stars that shine

And twinkle on the milky way,

They stretched in never-ending line

Along the margin of a bay:

Ten thousand saw I at a glance,

Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

 

The waves beside them danced; but they

Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:

A poet could not but be gay,

In such a jocund company:

I gazed—and gazed—but little thought

What wealth the show to me had brought:

 

For oft, when on my couch I lie

In vacant or in pensive mood,

They flash upon that inward eye

Which is the bliss of solitude;

And then my heart with pleasure fills,

And dances with the daffodils.

 

The poem under analysis is an expression of admiration to nature. It includes a number of references to principles of Romanticism, which are depicted as follows:

In the first stanza the speaker compares himself to a cloud and indicates that his position is in the sky, on top of all other creatures. He creates a bound with nature wherein he proclaims his belonging to it (by identifying with the cloud) and asserts his individualist aspect as he distances himself of all other human beings and of culture. At the end of the stanza he mentions the daffodils to which he is attracted, he describes them as a "host" which is significant of a company.

In the second stanza the speaker describes the daffodils along the bay of the lake. He compares them to stars that shine and twinkle and marvels at their large number, which he says is "never-unending", then he makes the second personification where he considers them as human beings that are dancing and "tossing their heads".

In the third stanza the speaker muses at the beauty of the daffodils, which are more glittering than the waves of the lake, then he expresses his extreme happiness to be in "such a jocund company", which makes the third personification of the flowers. The speaker clearly identifies with the natural world as the only company and refuge he needs. He first refers to the daffodils as a host like human beings, then describes them as having heads, and third as a company of friends. Clearly the natural world represents a better friend to the speaker than the civilized world. The principles of Romanticism that can be identified in this poem are individualism and isolation, refuge in nature, nature as a mirror of human nature, and the rejection of the world of organized social structures in favor of the natural world.

The final stanza includes the elements of imagination and inspiration. The speaker returns to his couch but his mind still "wanders" in the sky over the daffodils. He refers to imagination when he says "they flash upon that inward eye" and shows that it makes him happy "my heart with pleasure fills". This stanza shows that imagination as a main aspect of romantic writing is a key to escapism towards a beautiful world of nature.

Suggestions for Further Reading:

Mortad-Serir, Ilhem. Romantic Poetry for Analysis. Algeria, Alqarii. 2017

Wordsworth, William, Coleridge, Samuel Taylor. Lyrical Ballads and Other Poems. London: Wordsworth Editions, 2003. Print.